If you are going to visit Turkey not only for the sake of shopping , be sure to take time to visit the Topkapi Palace, which was once the main palace of the Ottoman Empire and has not lost its greatness. Since its inception, the palace had a different name - Sarah-i-Jedide-i-Amire, but then the name was changed. Topkapi in Russian translates as "cannon gate", this is the main gate of the palace, having guns for protection. More of the guns were fired every time the Sultan left his residence. It is also called a "big house".
Location:
There is a famous Topkapi Palace right where the Bosphorus flows into the Sea of Marmara. This is Cape Sarayburnu. Sultanahmet district. This amazing complex is located on a hill and to find it, it will not work. This place is the historical center of Istanbul and one of its sights.
Conqueror, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed, after the conquest of Constantinople in the second half of the XV century, ordered to build on the site of the ruins of the palace of the Byzantine emperors - Topkapi Palace. And the first time it existed, it actually was the residence of the rulers.
Harem of the Topkapi Palace
The Sultan's harem was originally located outside the complex. However, one of the concubines of Sultan Suleiman, managed to convince him to move the harem to the palace grounds. Her name was Roxalan. In the harem life obeyed strict rules. Every morning with the beginning of the morning prayer the concubines went to the bathhouse. Then they were taught music, sewing, rules of conduct, languages and other useful sciences, as well as art to give pleasure to a man (sultan). Virtually no time was available for concubines. When the sultan chose a girl for the night, he sent her a gift, and generously presented it to her in the morning, if he liked the night. The corridor along which the concubine went to the Sultan's bedroom is called the "Golden Way". The main thing in the harem was considered to be the Valid-Sultan, the mother of the Sultan. She had at her disposal about 40 rooms and a huge number of servants.
During the further time of its existence Topkapi Palace was completed. Despite the carried fires and earthquakes, this unique monument of architecture and art was enriched and blossomed. Each sultan decorated it. At the beginning of the 20th century, when Turkey became a republic, the palace was given the status of a museum. Currently, he takes tourists, and much of what was previously impossible to see a mere mortal, is now available to the museum complex. The ticket price is about 5 US dollars. Topkapi accepts tourists from nine in the morning to five in the evening in the summer and up to four in the winter. The day off is Tuesday.
The construction of the Topkapi Palace
The Topkapi Palace plan looks peculiar. The complex is arranged on the principle of separated 4 yards, which have a length of five kilometers. They are surrounded by a wall. In the first courtyard are located service and utility rooms, in the second - the office and the treasury. In the third, there are internal chambers and the Sultan's harem. Mosque Sofa, pavilions, tower, dressing room - located in the fourth courtyard. The palace itself stretched for seven hundred thousand square meters. In the old days about five thousand people worked in the palace.
Topkapi Palace today
This is a truly amazing monument, literally breathing the spirit of that time. It is difficult to just attach, but about 55 tons of gold and silver are used to decorate the interiors of the palace. A wonderful collection of paintings, do not remain without attention of connoisseurs of painting. In addition, there are about twelve thousand pieces of porcelain, including exhibits from white porcelain, which has no analogues in Europe. Among the exhibits are the thrones of sultans, made of the most valuable species of wood and decorated with precious stones, ivory, gold. Numerous ornaments of rulers and their women, without exaggeration, are masterpieces of jewelry work. The Romanovs and the Habsburgs left more. In addition to gold and diamonds, there are Moiseyev's staff, David's sword, Abraham's brazier, the relics of John the Baptist. The Topkapi Palace of Sultans has luxurious parks decorated with fountains and terraces and many more that are best to see first hand. Even sophisticated tourists this remarkable complex amazes with its grandeur and decoration. There are a lot of exhibits. And only their small part, about 65 thousand copies, are available for viewing visitors.
Certainly, now the Sultan's Topkapi Palace in Turkey is a significant part of the history, culture, art of this country. It is one of the richest museums in the world.
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